Departure day is upon us. House now cleared. Car loaded. Off to see Jim Darling at the car auctions who will take the car and sell it. Then overnight by the airport and fly out to Wales tomorrow. Seems such a hassle when you start. But when all the pieces fall in, it seems a piece of piss. Adios, Dunbar, farewell Cockburnspath.
I have written about half of my new book - the motivation for leaving the UK, (not difficult). The other half can not be written until we have lived in Spain for some time and I can make some intelligent appraisal of the social, political, economic and life-style differences.
This blog should help string some chronological and coherent thoughts together.
Monday 29 January 2007
Sunday 28 January 2007
TOMORROW - THE BIG DAY (Monday)
What looked like a pin prick of light at the end of the tunnel has hurtled towards us. My great fear was that cancer, hypertension or renal failure would pull me under before I could reach the shore. Now I await the removal van in the morning - (Monday). The removal co. asked if they could clear the house in two lifts. We agreed; so they started yesterday. To quote Bernice, it is hard to believe we could accumulate so much shit. Seventy-odd boxes (2 cubic ft each) were taken away yesterday plus all the furniture except the bed.
As our new home is sans electricity we are leaving all the kitchen equipment - fridge/freezer, microwave, cooker, washing machine etc. Nonetheless our two bedroom cottage had sufficient odds and sods to fill the truck. Moreover, when they return tomorrow morning for the bed, there are another six boxes of clothes and afterthoughts to go.
The house seems a little eerie now, even a bit echoey. I had not realised how much character pictures gave a house. We had accumulated so many pictures between us that the house was awash with them - the sittingroom walls displayed no fewer than eleven. Now the whitewashed walls look anaemic and devoid of life.
Moving house, for most people, involves mixed emotions - nostalgia, sentimentality and some sadness.
For us, the pain is minimal. The one factor that makes the move so utterly positive is the relentlessness of the long Scottish winter. It grabs hold of the country about Halloween and never releases its icy grip (apart from the odd callous false dawn) until May. There may be one or two days in between when the wind drops, the rain stops, the sun breaks through and Scots start talking to each other in the street. But Gabriel at the Lord's elbow immediately whispers "Dinnae spoil them Lord - they'll be enjoying themselves next".
Despite the warmth of so many individuals plus their sincere and kind wishes any regrets pale into insignificance at the prospect of the life ahead.
Blog now suspended till we start again in Spain in about a week
As our new home is sans electricity we are leaving all the kitchen equipment - fridge/freezer, microwave, cooker, washing machine etc. Nonetheless our two bedroom cottage had sufficient odds and sods to fill the truck. Moreover, when they return tomorrow morning for the bed, there are another six boxes of clothes and afterthoughts to go.
The house seems a little eerie now, even a bit echoey. I had not realised how much character pictures gave a house. We had accumulated so many pictures between us that the house was awash with them - the sittingroom walls displayed no fewer than eleven. Now the whitewashed walls look anaemic and devoid of life.
Moving house, for most people, involves mixed emotions - nostalgia, sentimentality and some sadness.
For us, the pain is minimal. The one factor that makes the move so utterly positive is the relentlessness of the long Scottish winter. It grabs hold of the country about Halloween and never releases its icy grip (apart from the odd callous false dawn) until May. There may be one or two days in between when the wind drops, the rain stops, the sun breaks through and Scots start talking to each other in the street. But Gabriel at the Lord's elbow immediately whispers "Dinnae spoil them Lord - they'll be enjoying themselves next".
Despite the warmth of so many individuals plus their sincere and kind wishes any regrets pale into insignificance at the prospect of the life ahead.
Blog now suspended till we start again in Spain in about a week
Wednesday 24 January 2007
ROUTINE ADMIN
Our old emails at btinternet.com will cease to exist in the next couple of days. The virgin.net address has already ceased to be. Henceforth all email for DOW will be dow.wtc@googlemail.com and for Bean : bernice.wtc@googlemail.com
Mail to Apartado 81, Herrera Del Duque 06670, Badajoz, Spain.
Mail to Apartado 81, Herrera Del Duque 06670, Badajoz, Spain.
Sunday 21 January 2007
BeanScene
BEAN HERE. Phew, what a week that was. Glad that one's behind us. Exit date too close for the emotional rollercoaster and drama that we went through over the past 7 days. The Whites are made of fighting stuff - lesser mortals wouldn't have seen the light of day.
Weather in Scotland really getting me down. Hostile winds, rain, sleet - however it is perfect packing weather. Didn't know we could hoard such shit. 8 Sleeps left. Yippeee.
Responses to my leaving have been overwhelming - very kind words; sincere sentiments of past dealings and some very touching and complimentary wishes. Leaving party on Thursday 25th January - a Fizzy Tea - a la Bean. 25th January is famous for Alan White's birthday also someone called Robert Burns.
Weather in Scotland really getting me down. Hostile winds, rain, sleet - however it is perfect packing weather. Didn't know we could hoard such shit. 8 Sleeps left. Yippeee.
Responses to my leaving have been overwhelming - very kind words; sincere sentiments of past dealings and some very touching and complimentary wishes. Leaving party on Thursday 25th January - a Fizzy Tea - a la Bean. 25th January is famous for Alan White's birthday also someone called Robert Burns.
Friday 19 January 2007
POSITIVELY UPBEAT
See GP who tells me blood toxic counts are down. Looks like I don't need a second stent to help drain the kidney. Hospital doesn't need a PSA (cancer detection) till March, so it looks as if I can finish my dig under the wire and finally stand up taking great lungs full of Spanish air.
Irony of ironies - I spend 5 hours back in the Western General Hospital yesterday waiting for Bernice who underwent an op for a urinary problem. Finally get away at 1830 but poor Bean is shagged out and lost her sparkle from an armful of anaesthesia.
Hopefully no more dreary stuff and this blog can get on with its original mission statement of being entertaining, profane and funny.
Pax vobiscum.
Irony of ironies - I spend 5 hours back in the Western General Hospital yesterday waiting for Bernice who underwent an op for a urinary problem. Finally get away at 1830 but poor Bean is shagged out and lost her sparkle from an armful of anaesthesia.
Hopefully no more dreary stuff and this blog can get on with its original mission statement of being entertaining, profane and funny.
Pax vobiscum.
Wednesday 17 January 2007
LESS DREARY STILL
Received telephone call from WGH this morning. I was on the agenda of a multi-disciplinary meeting (onconologists, urologists etc). They are not too concerned about the raised PSA (Prostate Cancer Gauge) as it is too soon after the new hormone treatment to see a reversal in the climb. So the cancer scare is less immediate than feared. Told to send them my next PSA reading by email from Spain - which means they are more laid back than one hoped. Still having the blood checked for Kidney malfunction to see if toxic count is down. Main issue is that I now feel fine with nausea gone and lethargy much less in evidence.
Tuesday 16 January 2007
LESS DREARY
With our emigration date - Jan 29th - rapidly approaching, I am beginning to feel like one of the POWs in those Stalag movies of yesteryear. You know the genre. Determined POWs start tunnelling under their hut and after many months they calculate they are outside the barbed wire boundary fence. Poor bastards, covered in sweat and grime, physically exhausted and struggling for oxygen finally reach exit point. Gently they dig upwards until a little breath of air establishes they are through. Slowly they widen the hole only to find the barrel of a Mauser pointing down at them. "Not so fast, Britisher, Herr Colonel Krupp would like to speak with you."
However even if I have to postpone our departure date, I WILL make it.
However even if I have to postpone our departure date, I WILL make it.
DREARY STUFF
There I was, Thursday 11 Jan, viewing my brand new creation of a blog and wondering how I can make it entertaining, erudite and a joy to read, when the phone rings. "Hi! it's Doctor Black from the Surgery. I want you to get yourself to the Western General Hospital NOW!"
Shit! Apparently my last blood test - taken to monitor my prostate cancer (PSA Level) - showed up new complications; to wit, renal failure.
Off I go. Endless checks, ECG, Scans, blood tests, blood pressure, you name it. Transpires my last stent insertion has developed a blockage, thus preventing the kidney (only have one) from functioning and allowing a build up of toxics, which if not remedied could be fatal.
Stent changed next day under GA. Blood monitored regularly. High toxic levels dropping but not fast enough to satisify medics. Sent home Monday 15th, blood to be monitored by GP. If no significant improvement, go back to WGH for an additional stent to be run from kidney to bladder. Tues 16th, see GP, Dr Black who takes yet another blood sample. He then tells me that PSA Level (from previous blood test) is up - more than doubled since last time. So prostate cancer. is once more threatening.
Shit! Apparently my last blood test - taken to monitor my prostate cancer (PSA Level) - showed up new complications; to wit, renal failure.
Off I go. Endless checks, ECG, Scans, blood tests, blood pressure, you name it. Transpires my last stent insertion has developed a blockage, thus preventing the kidney (only have one) from functioning and allowing a build up of toxics, which if not remedied could be fatal.
Stent changed next day under GA. Blood monitored regularly. High toxic levels dropping but not fast enough to satisify medics. Sent home Monday 15th, blood to be monitored by GP. If no significant improvement, go back to WGH for an additional stent to be run from kidney to bladder. Tues 16th, see GP, Dr Black who takes yet another blood sample. He then tells me that PSA Level (from previous blood test) is up - more than doubled since last time. So prostate cancer. is once more threatening.
Wednesday 10 January 2007
NEW HOME
Our new pad at Las Veras is in the SE corner of Extremadura known as La Siberia. The regional name alludes to the historic inaccessability of the area. For example, take the old road from Herrera Del Duque to Casas Don Pedro en route to Badajoz and Portugal and it is immediately apparent just how tortuous the journey once was. The new road, the N430, was only opened in 2006. Our house overlooks the N430 and, just beyond, the river Guadiana winds its lazy way to Trujillo, Merida and Portugal's Atlantic coast.
Our new pad at Las Veras is in the SE corner of Extremadura known as La Siberia. The regional name alludes to the historic inaccessability of the area. For example, take the old road from Herrera Del Duque to Casas Don Pedro en route to Badajoz and Portugal and it is immediately apparent just how tortuous the journey once was. The new road, the N430, was only opened in 2006. Our house overlooks the N430 and, just beyond, the river Guadiana winds its lazy way to Trujillo, Merida and Portugal's Atlantic coast.
DOWSWORLD
DOW with a blog? Never! Yes folks; me - a fully signed-up member of the Luddite club tiptoeing into the 21st century. Yes, yes, I know; I turned up my nose at computer technology and once was a member of the saloon bar brigade of bigots who boasted of his ignorance of IT. Putting pen to paper and sticking a stamp on an envelope was good enough for me. Mobile phones? Pretentious nonsense for ostententatious starlets and the flash nouveaux riches. Broadband and the information superhighway? What's wrong with the the local library and a decent encyclopedia?
I take it all back. Why? Firstly, it was a real pleasure to follow my son's world travels (with photos) on his blog. Secondly, a cancer diagnosis made me aware of how precious life is and how little time we have to record our thoughts. There were other motivating factors, not least my irrepressible compulsion to vent my spleen in the letters pages of the Press. Also our impending move to Spain will diminish my interest in British politics and the move itself will conjure up many impressions and experiences that could well merit recording for posterity.
The clincher was an article in - of all magazines - The Oldie (issue 210), the house magazine of all those with one foot in the grave. The Oldie was launched by seriously old Richard Ingrams (ex-ed of Private Eye) back in 1992. The Oldie article advocated the use of a blog for writers, thinkers, pholosophers and even grumpy old gits who just want to sound off into the ether.
Well now, sez I, if The Oldie embraces the idea so enthusiastically, why not I. So here, dear reader, is the world of DOW. (I use reader in the singular- just in case). What shape this blog will take, who knows. Hopefully it will be profane, irreverent, often angry and more often than not mischevious and witty.
I express my gratitude to The Oldie for explaining to me what blog meant. It is a contraction of WEB LOG. As an ex-sailor I am fully familiar with what a log is and I now know what the web is so the word is no longer nerdy - it makes sense.
I take it all back. Why? Firstly, it was a real pleasure to follow my son's world travels (with photos) on his blog. Secondly, a cancer diagnosis made me aware of how precious life is and how little time we have to record our thoughts. There were other motivating factors, not least my irrepressible compulsion to vent my spleen in the letters pages of the Press. Also our impending move to Spain will diminish my interest in British politics and the move itself will conjure up many impressions and experiences that could well merit recording for posterity.
The clincher was an article in - of all magazines - The Oldie (issue 210), the house magazine of all those with one foot in the grave. The Oldie was launched by seriously old Richard Ingrams (ex-ed of Private Eye) back in 1992. The Oldie article advocated the use of a blog for writers, thinkers, pholosophers and even grumpy old gits who just want to sound off into the ether.
Well now, sez I, if The Oldie embraces the idea so enthusiastically, why not I. So here, dear reader, is the world of DOW. (I use reader in the singular- just in case). What shape this blog will take, who knows. Hopefully it will be profane, irreverent, often angry and more often than not mischevious and witty.
I express my gratitude to The Oldie for explaining to me what blog meant. It is a contraction of WEB LOG. As an ex-sailor I am fully familiar with what a log is and I now know what the web is so the word is no longer nerdy - it makes sense.
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